i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
611 
FARMERS’ CLUB DISCUSSION. 
( Continued.) 
satisfied that they eat vegetable matter as 
I am that my cows do. They took all my 
peas last spring on the higher land ; in fact, 
at one time I feared they would drive me 
off ihe place. Discovering that they were 
exceedingly fond of peas, I soaked a lot in 
a strong solution of strychnine and sugar 
and planted them around in the garden 
and runs. This nearly cleaned them off 
that place. Again, when I planted melons 
on another part of the farm they swarmed 
in ; I put strychnine in the kernels of corn 
and dropped them in their runs. This 
cleaned them out of the melon patch, but 
still the place was full of them, and not 
being quite satisfied with these methods, I 
cast about for a better one and found it. 
I took equal parts of arsenic, sugar and 
flou-, boiled th°m together and baked the 
dough till it became of the consistency of 
putty. Then it was ready for use, and I 
broke it into wads, wrapped one in a brown 
paper and carried it in my pistol pocket 
and I killed more moles in one week than I 
could with my pistol in a thousand years. 
Whenever I came to a fresh run I broke off 
a piece as big as a large kernel of corn or 
bigger and fired it down and covered the 
hole made in so doing, and now there is 
not a mole on the place. 
Shall We Paint Shingle Roofs? 
O. K. L., Indianola, III —After an ex¬ 
perience of 30 years as a house painter, I 
am of the opinion that the above practice 
is not economical, except where such a roof 
is exposed to fire from sparks. True, paint 
arrests decay; but the expense of three 
paintings at intervals of five years will re- 
shlngle the building. But the progressive 
farmer asks: Why is it that all railroad 
buildings have painted roofs ? On old 
weather-worn shingle roofs there is a species 
of lint which exposes them to danger from 
sparks from parsing engines. This is greatly 
lessened if they are freshly painted and 
sanded. For economy’s sake roofs should be 
built steeper. I have known a roof built at 
an angle of a quarter pitch, and though it 
was kept painted, it did not last as long as 
that on an adjoining building which was 
steeper. Have you noticed that paint on 
porch floors or any other flit surface gives 
out long before that on the perpendicular 
sides of the building ? I have sheds sided 
with very perishable wood, such as syca¬ 
more and elm; the wood stands the weather 
for years, as It is in a perpendicular posi¬ 
tion. To economize in roofs make them 
steep. 
A Perfect Wheat Seed Bed. 
J. H. R , Smock, Pa.—T he best crop of 
wheat I ever raised was a second crop after 
potatoes. The ground was top-dressed 
with manure for the potatoes ; and the 
wheat was sown after the potatoes had 
been dug, and it gave a large yield of 
straw but not proportionately of grain. 
For the second crop of wheat, the field was 
plowed in the latter part of July when it 
was moist and very mellow. Some beat¬ 
ing rains followed which settled the ground 
quite solid. I harrowed and rolled it 
ready for sowing, but another heavy rain 
settled it down solid, so I had to repeat the 
harrowing and rolling. This done, my 
field looked like a great bed prepared for 
flowers so fine and mellow was the surface, 
but this fine surface was not more than 
two Inches deep, the under soil being very 
compact. 
Now as I had been raising more straw 
than grain, I decided to sow but one bush¬ 
el to the acre instead of 1)4 as formerly, 
especially as I had such a fine seed bed. 
When I drilled the wheat, the ground was 
moist and the loose soil being shallow it 
did not entirely cover the seed in some 
places, so I crossed the drills with the light 
frame Thomas smoothing harrow, giving 
the field the appearance of having been 
raked with a garden rake and leaving the 
surface smooth with no drill marks to hold 
water to freeze and thaw. Now this seed¬ 
ing I considered perfection, as I couldn’t 
see how it could have been bettered. The 
result was a large increase per acre over 
the former year’s crop. 
I like the spring tooth harrow and a drag 
or roller for preparing a seed bed. I al¬ 
ways use a jointer on my plow so the har¬ 
row cannot bring any rubbish to the sur¬ 
face, but will bring up the clods to be 
crushed by the drag or roller. I find the 
spring-tooth harrow much better for level¬ 
ing than the disc, as in crossing a hol¬ 
low place each one of the broad teeth 
brings a load of earth into it. I like the 
Empire drill best because the draw bars to 
the hoes are short and hung low causing 
the hoes to run a more regular depth than 
in the case of some others. 
I use 200 pounds of fertilizer per acre and 
leave test strips without any fertilizer, 
which show plainly that I get two dollars 
for one. 
I sow wheat after potatoes and corn. 1 
have cea«ed to sow corn stubble to oats, 
for it does not pay nearly so well as wheat. 
The corn having been cultivated all sum¬ 
mer, the ground needs only to be stirred 
with a cultivator to make it ready for the 
drill and by fertilizing to hold the wheat 
through the winter I always get a heavy 
crop which will more than buy what oats 
I can raise. Besides, I have no oats to 
bother me in planting potatoes and corn, 
and when I finish my wheat harvest I put 
the binder away as the grain harvest is 
over; then I can finish up my hay and end 
harvesting. Another thing—I like to have 
a growing crop on my corn grouud instead 
of leaving it bare all winter, waiting for 
oats to be sown in the spring. 
A Huckleberry Picnic. 
F. A. Potnam, Worcester County, 
Mass. —Having read the various ways of 
taking a day off the farm, as advocated 
on page 558 of The Rural, I am led to 
give a Massachusetts way of taking a day 
off with both pleasure and profit to the 
farmer’s family. 
Many of the rocky hill pastures are more 
or less covered with a growth of huckle¬ 
berry bushes, and so is much of our wood 
lands. The last when cut for the wood 
and timber, furnish an abundant harvest 
of berries for several years from the under¬ 
growth of the bushes which have been kept 
dormant by the overshadowing growth of 
timber. When the berries are ripe two or 
more families unite and repair to some 
wood lot or pasture where it has been pre¬ 
viously ascertained the berries are abund¬ 
ant, and enjoy a regular “ huckleberry pic¬ 
nic.” A shady spot convenient to the 
bushes is chosen, and sheets or blankets are 
spread out on the ground, and there the 
men and older boys break up bushes that 
are full of ripe berries, and deposit them on 
the blankets, while the women and girls 
pick them off into pails and baskets. Where 
the berries are plentiful it usually takes 
but a short time for the men and boys to 
gather such a large pile of bushes that it 
will take all hands a good while to pick 
all the fruit. At noon out come baskets 
well filled with food, which is soon dis¬ 
patched in true picnic fashion. Pure, cool 
spring water from some nearby wood, that 
has been filtered through Nature’s perfect 
filter, a matted growth of living roots, is 
always obtainable to quench thirst and re¬ 
fresh the inner man. While the older peo¬ 
ple are gathering the berries, the little ones 
are having a frolic, and as they grow tired 
and sleepy are laid away in blankets, like 
the “Babes in the Wood,” for a nap. A 
good sociable time is enjoyed by the older 
folks in chatting, joking, telling stories, 
etc., while their fingers are busy picking 
off the berries, and I suspect a little “ spoon¬ 
ing” is done by the young men and women 
as they wander off in couples ostensibly to 
pick directly from the bashes into their 
pails and baskets. When these are all 
filled, or as the slowly descending sun and 
lengthening shadows give warning that it 
will soon be chore time, “camp is broken 
up,” palls, baskets, baggage, little ones 
and all, are loaded Into the wagons and the 
whole company is soon speeding home¬ 
ward, the horses, in spite of a few fly bites, 
seeming to have enjoyed the invigorating 
influences of a day off from the farm work 
amid new surroundings as well as the rest 
of the party. 
The next day the housewife proceeds to 
can the berries for winter use, and many a 
palatable reminder of the day’s outing in 
the woods and fields is furnished as they 
are served up in midwinter, while the icy 
winds have full sway out-of-doors. 
Often visiting friends from the city or 
village accompany one or more of the fami¬ 
lies, and seem to enjoy the tour fully as 
well as the farmers’ families. 
Good Advice to City Workers. 
Y. H., New York.—The R. N.-Y. seems 
to have a number of city readers who wish 
to make homes in the country. This Is a 
commendable desire and shows the right 
spirit. The crowded city is an unnatural 
place for any one to live. The trouble with 
most of those having positions in the city 
is that they purpose to abandon their 
only assured means of livelihood and strike 
out Into what is to them a new and untried 
field. They should not do this, but should 
hold on to the position that is yielding 
bread and butter, especially if they know 
little or nothing of country life. There is 
a wide extent of country available for 
homes to any one doing business in New 
York and the excellent facilities for going 
to and from the city each day are being 
constantly improved. There are thousands 
of places of all sizes and stages of improve¬ 
ment that may be bought on easy terms or 
hired with the privilege of purchasing if 
satisfactory. Places large enough to keep 
a cow, some poultry, with space for grow¬ 
ing vegetables and fruits, can be obtained 
for a reasonable outlay. In most suburban 
towns there ar3 building and loan associa¬ 
tions which will aid one in building. A 
small place is sufficient to start with, and 
it will prove more satisfactory to rent the 
first year, taking time to investigate the 
opportunities for investment. It doesn’t 
pay to be In too much of a hurry in buy¬ 
ing. With a small place one can experi¬ 
ment, learn what he is best adapted to pro¬ 
duce and develop gradually, until ulti¬ 
mately he can devote all his time profit¬ 
ably to his country place. One of the lux¬ 
uries of which the market never has enough 
is fresh eggs, and any one coming to the 
city daily can easily find a market for all 
he cares to bring In daily, at prices which 
are extremely profitable. I know of those 
who obtain 50 and 60 cents per dozen the 
year ’round, though a much lower price 
would prove profitable. Land and rents 
are probably cheaper on the average ou 
Long Island; but New Jersey is more 
cheaply and conveniently accessible. Let 
those whose desires turn country ward visit 
different localities, call on the real estate 
agents and obtain lists of places for sale 
and rent, but one shouldn’t swallow more 
than one per cent of what the latter tell 
about their properties; keep away from 
low and marshy ground ; get a place with 
good drainage, begin small and grow into 
something better and larger. 
My Rural No. 2 Potatoes. 
W. R., Springfield, III.— These have 
made a splendid growth: the ground is full 
of them. Some are now as large as the fist 
and there Is no sign of the vines drying up 
yet. They have the darkest colored foliage 
I have ever seen on a potato, and their up¬ 
right growth admits of better culture early 
than that of the bushy kinds that cannot 
be plowed closely without covering them 
up. 
Weight of the Cheapest Pork. 
John M. Jamison, Ross County, Ohio. 
—“A. S. A.” on page 576 of The R. N.-Y. 
gives very excellent advice when he says 
that none but full-blooded animals should 
be used to make the cheapest pork. But to 
one or two other statements I beg leave to 
take exceptions : “ Nine-tenths of the hogs 
in the country are Poland-Chinas, because 
animals of this breed can be sold at six 
months to one year old at a profit, and the 
farmer does not lose the feed he gives 
them.” This leaves us to make the infer¬ 
ence that no other breed of hogs can be 
grown at a profit at this age, and thnta 
hog must weigh 250 to 300 pounds to j ield a 
profit. His statements certainly Indicate 
these conclusions, and, if true, a vast ma¬ 
jority of the hogs put on the market in the 
last two or three years have been sold at a 
loss to the grower, notwithstanding the 
fact that 90 per cent of them were Poland- 
Chinas. There is abundant evidence that the 
well-fattened pig weighing from 175 to 225 
pounds yields to the producer the greatest 
profit for the food consumed. Poland-China 
breeders are awake to this fact, and are 
fining up the bones of their favorites, so 
that at these weights they will not carry 
an undue proportion of bone. For a few 
years I have given the matter careful 
study and observation to learn, if possible, 
which breed of hogs will make the most 
pork for the food consumed. While &till 
continuing the search in this direction, I 
am attracted to the assertion of “ A. S. A 
that the Poland-Chinas “ will make more 
pork in proportion to cost than any other 
breed.” This Is undoubtedly the key to 
the information I am in search of. An ani 
mal that will do this Is what every practi¬ 
cal hog grower is looking after ; but I have 
long since learned to accept statements of 
this kiDd as boomers for a breeder’s favor¬ 
ites, but I hope “A. S. A.” can give us the 
scale test to back his unqualified assertion. 
Scale tests to show the superiority of one 
breed above another, so far as I have been 
able to learn, when the amount of food 
consumed is taken into consideration, do 
not place any one breed on a sure footing 
above another. 
The Convenience ol Solid Trains. 
The Erie is the only railway running 
solid trains over its own tracks between 
New York and Chicago. No change of cars 
for any class of passengers. Rates lower 
than via any other first-class line.— Ad/v. 
$UieitcUanc0U0 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
Members of the 
Alliance, Grange, League 
and other organizations will make a mistake 
if they buy a 
BUGGY, VEHICLE or HARNESS 
of any kind before 
seeing our free, 
big catalogue, 
just out, show¬ 
ing over 100 dif¬ 
ferent styles of 
Carriages and 
Harness. 
No cash in advance required fro 
Cincinnati is 
the largest car¬ 
riage market in 
tlie world, and 
we are ahead of 
the procession. 
Reference: Second National Bank, Cincinnati. 
Get our prices 
and c o in pare 
them with your 
local dealer’s 
prices. Goods 
are hand made 
and warranted 
for 2 years. 
HEADQUARTERS FOR ANYTHING ON WHEELS 
We will send a 
beautiful Alli¬ 
ance badge to 
any one who 
will send us the 
a d d r e s s e s of 
ten prospective 
buyers. 
ALLIANCE CARRIAGE CO. Cincinnati,0. 
ENSILAGE 
The SILO Is rapidly being adopted In all 
sections of the U. 8. and portions of Canada as 
the cheapest possible means of liar vesting and 
feeding the corn crop; no waste,no husking, 
no grinding, no toll to pay. nor time to lose,and 
a reserve of green feed for all seasons of the 
year when pasturage and other crops may fall. 
Ilouble ttie number of stock can be kept on the 
same number of acres under cultivation. 
Our Catalogue embraces valuahleinformation 
and detailed instructions on the subject, as well 
as description and prices of the FAMOUS 
“OHIO” 
Ensilage and Fodder Cutters 
THE SILVER MFG. CO.. SALEM, Ohio. 
EVERYFARMERownMILLER 
l)o your own Shelling ami 
Grinding nt Home, Having tolls 
and teaming to and from 
the Grim Mill. Thin work 
can be done rainy, windy 
days, when out-door work 
i» suspended on the farm. 
The name Mill will cut 
corn stalks, saw wood,run 
churn, grlndHtone, pump 
water, etc. We make the 
HALLADAY 
RED WIND MILL 
in li sizes, \% to 40 horse 
power, and GUARANTEE 
they have no equal 
for Power, Durability 
and Storm-Defy lug 
Qualities. 
Horse Powers 
and JACKS both ringleand 
double Geared, made heavy and strong. 
!*,HC0RN Shelter 
Adapted to run by hand, horse, steam 
or wind power. Not cheaply made, 
but strong, durable and effective in 
its working, yet light running. It is 
constructed similar to the large 
Power Sheller*, and in the best 
2 Hole Shelter on the market. 
SAW T ABLES 
Both Swinging and Sliding 
Tables. We make a Saw Table 
especially adapted to sawing 
long poles. Special care is 
taken to make these machines 
strong and durable. 
THE IXL 
STALK CUTTER 
made -n 5 si«is, with Safety 
Fly Wheel, Safety Lever, 
d al: late improvements. 
IXL IRON FEED MILL 
zes, both Belt and Geared Mills. Can be run by 
r power and especially adapted to Wind Power. 
Li grind any kind of giaiu. and in the lightest 
niog and most effective Feed Grinder made. 
XL TANK HEATER 
For warming water in Stock Tanks. Made of 
the best quality of iron cant in one piece, DOHheet 
iron to rust or solder to melt and cause leak. Will 
burn any kind of fuel. It is very effective and take* 
less care to operate than any other Heater made. 
We also make the 
0O3Lsl HALLADAY PUMPING WIND MILLS 
n s tv 00 ft. diameter aud one man to 40 
home power. The (J. S. SOLID WHEEL WIND 
MILL,? sizes. Iron and lira** Piunn* in greut variety. 
TunliH all kinds and sizes, and the Stundurd Hay Tool* 
consisting of Antl-Frictlon, Swivel, Kevcr*lble and Hod 
liar Carrier*, Harpoon and Orapple Horne Hay Fork*, 
Talley*, Floor Hook*, etc. All goods fully guaranteed. 
Send for Catalogue and Prices, ltcliable Agent* wanted 
in all unoasigned Territory. 
U. S. WIND ENGINE & PUMP CO., 
BATAVIA, ILLINOIS, IT. S. A. 
BRANCH HOUSES:—Kansas City, Mo.; Omaha, Neb. 
DEPOTS;—Boston, Mas*.; Fort Worth, Texa*. 
